On December 15, 2003, Terry and I got engaged on the banks of the Grand Canyon, while holidaying in Las Vegas. Two weeks later, on boxing day of that year, Terry was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure, and told that, without immediate treatment, he had just two weeks to live. It wasn’t the best Christmas we’ve ever had, all things considered.
Unable to continue with the day job, Terry started a web design business from his dialysis chair. As for me, meanwhile, I finally took the hint that it was time to leave the office job I hated, and start building a life that didn’t make me cry in the shower every morning at the thought of going into work. Freelance writing turned into freelance blogging, and pretty soon I realised that, instead of getting paid to write for other people, I could get paid to write for myself: and so Forever Amber was born.
Terry finally had his transplant on December 15th, 2005 – two years to the day we got engaged – receiving a kidney from his brother, John, also known as “Our Hero”.
And me? I kept on blogging – the only difference being that, these days, my blog is read by over 70,000 people per month. Trippy, no?